Surround Sound vs Soundbars

SoundG159

SoundG159

SoundG159

Associate
Joined
26 Nov 2016
Posts
1
Who's on which side?

Both of them have advantages, but for me personally I'm on the soundbar side.

We had a surround sound setup a number of years ago which did create a very cinematic, immersive feel but also then came with quite a bit of clutter. Has anyone found a way of decluttering surround sound equipment?

We have an Orbitsound BAR A60 & subwoofer in the dining room, and with it being quite a small room also, the acoustics sound perfect. Has anyone got a soundbar in a larger, more open room... and if so do they feel their soundbar does the room justice?
 
I have both and I also use built in speakers in the games room as well as headphones.

5.1 in living room, soundbar in bedroom, tv speakers & headphones in games room.

They all have their pros and cons
 
I had 5.1 surround system in my flat, but when I moved into a house I didn't like all the visible wires and speaker stands so have replaced it with a YSP 2700. No doubt a separate speaker system and AVR is better, but it depends how much you value true surround sound.
 
Just setup my YSP 2700 and liking it a lot! Didn't have any surround setup at all before so this is really nice.

Spotify through it sounds really punchy even though I know it's not the best audio quality but even so.

Looking forward to giving a few blurays a go in due course.
 
if you have the space, if you can turn it up.

Surround sound, that is speakers position correctly, on stands, calibrated, with a proper sub in the right position throwing out bass that you can't tell where it is coming from.

Getting a soundbar or headphones is because you are constraints by limitations, and thus compromising on sound for convenience, cost, size or space etc.
 
I'll chime in here.

After having owned many 5.1, 7.1, 9.2 systems as a bachelor was great but after being told i could no longer live such a life by the mrs i had to opt for a sonos soundbar as a compromise to all those speakers.

Since the nightmare of my daughter being a toddler with sticky fingers and wanting to prod anything thats shiny or expensive it was a wise move!

I'd say if you have no children who are outright thugs and an understanding wife then go for a full speaker setup - If not a soundbar but make a wise choice about price vs performance.

My sonos cost me £1200 with the bar and sub I've spent 3x that on speakers over the years and honestly in the grand scheme of things the soundbar is great compromise as my movie watching slowed vastly anyway and now i watch shimmer and shine in glorious HD


That probably sounded more like a frustrated rant but hope it helps :D
 
I had to go to a soundbar for 8 years, thankfully now back with a "normal" setup. The difference is amazing and that's coming from a Yamaha 5100 / 5600 soundbar.
 
Had an all in one surround setup for years and was on verge of going sound bar/stereo for simplicity...

But then did a complete u-turn and got floorstanders to nullify need for sub (which worked rather well in smallish room), full range centre, and repurposed some satellite as Atmos speaker to take advantage of new denon receiver.

Everything just sounds so wonderful now I am glad I did,and the sound goes well with recent 55inch screen too :D

Am sure my neighbour doesn't like it though!
 
eyetrip said:
Had an all in one surround setup for years and was on verge of going sound bar/stereo for simplicity...

But then did a complete u-turn and got floorstanders to nullify need for sub (which worked rather well in smallish room), full range centre, and repurposed some satellite as Atmos speaker to take advantage of new denon receiver.

Everything just sounds so wonderful now I am glad I did,and the sound goes well with recent 55inch screen too :D

Am sure my neighbour doesn't like it though!
Click to expand...

Even with floorstanders you need a subwoofer. Most centers aren't full range.

Unless your stereo speakers and center reach down to 20hz, and have a 12" dedicted subwoofer in each, then a dedicted subwoofer will out perform your speakers.

Plus you need a good amplifier to drive sub bass frequencies.

My mains have three 8" drivers, reach down to about 25hz, but my subwoofer is still better. And I have a 300W amplifier per channel for those speakers.
 
I can't do proper surround due to the position of my TV. A cheapish soundbar does me fine, providing far better sound than the TV's own speakers.
 
I've had both. Soundbars have come a long way to make those that prefer the simplistically enjoy very immersive sound experience.

I had the HT-ST9 and that had stonking sound..but mass reliability issues. Now on the Yamaha 2700 and I must say it too is pretty darn good. SQ isnt as good but the surround is ok..and that is with my TV in the corner...
 
hornetstinger said:
Even with floorstanders you need a subwoofer. Most centers aren't full range.

Unless your stereo speakers and center reach down to 20hz, and have a 12" dedicted subwoofer in each, then a dedicted subwoofer will out perform your speakers.

Plus you need a good amplifier to drive sub bass frequencies.

My mains have three 8" drivers, reach down to about 25hz, but my subwoofer is still better. And I have a 300W amplifier per channel for those speakers.
Click to expand...

You have probably spent more money than me.

My amp classed my centre as full range after calibration. It's a lot larger than I was expecting.

I know floorstander won't match a good sub, but guess it depends on the quality of each. But my point was, I don't miss the subs I had.
 
My amp classed my centre as full range after calibration
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter, the size detection is wrong on AVR's calibration. It detects my monitor speakers are large, but they have 5" drivers.

Unless you have speakers with dedicted subwoofers it's best to set to small.

but guess it depends on the quality of each.
Click to expand...

Nope. Even my speakers at £3500 don't produce low notes like a decent 12" subwoofer.

And like I said you are robbing your amp trying to produce those frequencies. By using bass management the power goes to the crossover point and above, so dynamic range is increased, so is fidelity, and distortion goes down (amp and speaker)
 
Got rid of my 5.1 and for a while been using my TV speakers.

Went for a Bose Solo 5 sound bar and very happy with this. Having a little toddler it's not as interesting as the other setup so no more touching!
 
I have a 5.1 setup but had to compromise on speaker type and location due to family. Ideally i'd have liked floor standers for the front and ear level rears on stands. As it is I have 4 small Onkyo speakers mounted in the corner of the room near the ceiling with cables hidden neatly away in trunking. Not ideal, but still better than a soundbar.

Eventually, when I upgrade to OLED, I'm going to ditch my TV unit and wall mount the TV. I then plan on putting all the cables in the wall and getting a set of Kef T series speakers wall mounted for the fronts and centre and probably Kef ceiling mounted speakers for the rears.
 
Last edited:
I'm still using my old Logitech x 540 5.1 pc speakers on my TV.
Only issue is you dont get 5.1 due to the 3.5mm jacks (as they are PC speakers) so have to use the Matrix mode on the speakers to "simulate" 5.1. For now, its perfectly fine (for me) and better than the TV speakers / soundbars I can afford.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom